Talkiet: Coke Zero. I am going to ignore any hysteria about how unbelievably dangerous the ingredients are since they are able to be sold in the USA with the FDA and Lawyers piled 3 deep in many places looking for class action suits, and focus instead on how it tastes just fine, and calorifically is basically water.

Devils Advocate: Cigarettes are also able to be sold it the US - but there is little disagreement they are horrifically bad for you

Interesting conversation here and also a healthy encouraging one for the Geekzone community, I have thought about bringing this up in the past but have never had a good opprotunity.

I believe as long as it is not a ridiculously unhealthy diet (or lifestyle change) whatever works for people is good for them. I am by no means a medical professional to say yes or no to someones choices.

In total I went from 155kgs down to 95kgs at my lowest over 12 months from August 2012 - August 2013, i'm currently 100kgs which I am happy with, my body fat has also decreased from 35% to 12%.

This has all been done through adjustment of diet while calorie counting through MyFitnessPal app / website and increased exercise with a personal trainer and regular gym visits. At no point was I eating less than 1400 calories a day (i'm 195cm tall) so I could eat normal meals still while still eating less calories than usual to lose the weight. What I noticed was it is much easier to lose weight by adjusting what you're eating that working it off with exercise. The exercise makes you more toned, active and you feel healthier alongside your weight loss.

I didn't identify with any particular diet to begin with, choosing to cut out firstly what I decided I could do without. I begun by cutting out seconds with meals, and juice at dinner then moved onto not drinking soft drinks, then only drinking water and coffee. I also cut bread out of my diet, followed by not having avoidable processed carbs such as pasta, potato etc.

I did 3 months of not drinking alcohol which got the last 5kgs off for me (I'm a student so this was quite the challenge!), I am drinking again now although it is something I am looking to cut out again in the near future, summer always gets me!

I believe that I may now sort of loosely follow the paleo diet with my food consisting of rice, quinoa, veges / fruit, fish, eggs, meat, nuts etc however I have not intentionally chosen this, and I do not strictly follow their guidelines at all it's just what I have ended up doing through my eating clean philosophy. I'll be the first to admit though I do have my slip ups and treat myself occasionally, it's about balancing those treats with hard work and healthy eating.

This has worked for me, I now look at foods and decide whether I really need them or not. It is tough to make changes with a culture currently of oversized portions, unhealthy foods being incredibly cheap (but not filling) and for me a student culture of binge drinking.

wasabi2k: The big question being - is this something you can do for the rest of your life?

If not - enjoy the loss now, but be ready to pack it all back on when you can't be arsed doing it any more.

Weight Loss is not rocket science. Exercise More, eat an appropriate amount of the right type of food. That means protein, veges and fruits.

This is precisely why I've avoided "diets" and I'm just making gradual, but permanent changes in my lifestyle, rather than stress myself out over calories and kilos. Swap sammies for salads. Walk to the shops instead of bus/drive. Stop reaching for the booze every night. The results are slow but once you notice you've dropped a belt-notch, it's easier to stay focused.

Diets are great for initial weight loss. After that a change of eating habits is the best long term solution.

The thing is it's really easy to eat more calories than you need unless you're super careful. A slice of cake, some chips, a soft drink, any one of those in additional regular meals means you will gain weight. Having tools like a fast day you can do once a week (or month, or twice a week) is helpful, and may be preferable to some over constantly watching every little thing you eat.

asmcar: Interesting conversation here and also a healthy encouraging one for the Geekzone community, I have thought about bringing this up in the past but have never had a good opprotunity.

This has worked for me, I now look at foods and decide whether I really need them or not. It is tough to make changes with a culture currently of oversized portions, unhealthy foods being incredibly cheap (but not filling) and for me a student culture of binge drinking.

If anyone is particularly interested I can post a link to pictures.

All this talk is starting to inspire me to get off my asss and lose the extra 15kg Im totin around. Post some pics up mate (clothed preferably).

Anyone else wanna start a geekzone weightloss challenge or something like that for 2014?

All this talk is starting to inspire me to get off my asss and lose the extra 15kg Im totin around. Post some pics up mate (clothed preferably).

Anyone else wanna start a geekzone weightloss challenge or something like that for 2014?

Geekzone weightloss challenge sounds like a great idea (I would be supporter rather than participator though!) Could also encourage groups to get together in cities for exercise however that's more long term and up to the participants to sort.

In regards to photos, I have posted the below on reddit before (in r/progresspics) if someone has seen it before that's why. Otherwise here is a 12 months overview of my weightloss.

Today I am pretty much the same as the last photo although I am developing more muscle, it doesn't justify another picture yet!

If one counts Wednesday as my start day because I skipped lunch and felt rather good about it, and Thursday (today) as my normal day - but without the Coke - roll on the next skip lunch day.

Wednesday by skipping lunch I felt wonderful walking the hills of Dunedin changing the backup tapes for work. Thursday I had lunch as normal and felt like crap after changing the backup tapes. I'm also sitting here with just over an hour to go to home time and I have drunk 2l of water trying to get a nasty taste out of my month that in the past is solved by drinking Coke :-)

Still confused when I read that what I though as traditional good food (like potatoes) need to be managed and should not be eaten every day ...

All this talk is starting to inspire me to get off my asss and lose the extra 15kg Im totin around. Post some pics up mate (clothed preferably).

Anyone else wanna start a geekzone weightloss challenge or something like that for 2014?

Geekzone weightloss challenge sounds like a great idea (I would be supporter rather than participator though!) Could also encourage groups to get together in cities for exercise however that's more long term and up to the participants to sort.

In regards to photos, I have posted the below on reddit before (in r/progresspics) if someone has seen it before that's why. Otherwise here is a 12 months overview of my weightloss.

Today I am pretty much the same as the last photo although I am developing more muscle, it doesn't justify another picture yet!

asmcar: Interesting conversation here and also a healthy encouraging one for the Geekzone community, I have thought about bringing this up in the past but have never had a good opprotunity.

This has worked for me, I now look at foods and decide whether I really need them or not. It is tough to make changes with a culture currently of oversized portions, unhealthy foods being incredibly cheap (but not filling) and for me a student culture of binge drinking.

If anyone is particularly interested I can post a link to pictures.

All this talk is starting to inspire me to get off my asss and lose the extra 15kg Im totin around. Post some pics up mate (clothed preferably).

Anyone else wanna start a geekzone weightloss challenge or something like that for 2014?

I'm in. I lost quite a lot of weight (20kg) for my brothers wedding back in Jan 11, came back from Melbourne to being made redundant and 18 months at home with the kids. Now have a great job, but working shifts and very much struggling with my weight, it's all back, and more of course. I need some way to increase my willpower to stick with it!

Cheers, Joseph

MyFitnessPal seems to be the way to go so add me if you like, username hinvest

Not eating is surprisingly easy, it soon becomes obvious that most people eat way more than they need. Alternate day fasting also seems to work fine. Eating large meals every day starts to feel ridiculous and decadent.

I'm in. I lost quite a lot of weight (20kg) for my brothers wedding back in Jan 11, came back from Melbourne to being made redundant and 18 months at home with the kids. Now have a great job, but working shifts and very much struggling with my weight, it's all back, and more of course. I need some way to increase my willpower to stick with it!

Cheers, Joseph

MyFitnessPal seems to be the way to go so add me if you like, username hinvest

The key I found was removing as many barriers as possible to exercising - then doing it enough that you see results.

For me - I was get up in the morning - straight to work - home - help with kids - dinner - bed.Weekends I had some more time but wanted to do chill out stuff. I was going to the gym once a week - no real progress.

What I did - home gym - spent about a grand on squat rack, free weights, later added a treadmill. I now fit an hour workout in when I get home with my 4 year old with me "working out" and watching a movie, then still help with putting him to bed. Wife doesn't mind as I seem happier when I have worked out.

I also found a decent programme - I use Jason Ferrugia's stuff - found a PDF online. Weights workouts are 45 minutes only. I sometimes take longer.

Now I do weights Mon - Wed - Fri, Treadmill Tue - Thu - Sat. If I miss a day I just carry on and make it up on the Sunday. Take a week off every 8-12 weeks.

Working out regularly I am starting to see results.

On the flipside of that - I get very little time to play games any more. I stopped playing Starcraft completely - I might get a few hours over the weekend. You have to make sacrifices.

You don't need to spend money - if weight loss is your goal - set that goal. Your workout can be going for a walk, playing touch or basketball or something. Have a long hard look at the hours in your day and how you spend them, then choose. If watching TV/playing games is more important that health/weight then stick with that. If it isn't, time to cut down on that.

It takes a lot of exercise to make up for a bad diet. One muffin can be 500 calories, that takes a solid hour of hard exercise to burn off. Easier to just not eat the muffin.

Once you're down to near a target weight then weights becomes more important. It increases your resting energy use and makes you look better. Of course if you can do weights while you're losing weight that's great, but I wonder if cardio or weights is more important for weight loss. There's probably not right answer.

timmmay: It takes a lot of exercise to make up for a bad diet. One muffin can be 500 calories, that takes a solid hour of hard exercise to burn off. Easier to just not eat the muffin.

Once you're down to near a target weight then weights becomes more important. It increases your resting energy use and makes you look better. Of course if you can do weights while you're losing weight that's great, but I wonder if cardio or weights is more important for weight loss. There's probably not right answer.

Weights are actually immensely beneficial in weight loss.

As you said - greater muscle mass = greater resting energy requirements. Plus the metabolic increase from exercise lasts significantly longer after a weights workout than an aerobic one.

That's what I have read anyway.

And as you said - your diet can give you massive benefits and doesn't require huge time commitments - it will probably even save you money.